New England's offense not only survived in the post-Moss world, it thrived and transformed into one of the most efficient units the game has ever seen over the final eight weeks of the season.

But after the New York Jets exposed the vulnerabilities of the offense in the playoffs, the question must be raised again: Do the Patriots need a deep-threat receiver?

While efficient, one of the problems with New England’s offense is that all of the receivers – from Welker to Deion Branch to Julian Edelman – are virtually the same.

They pick things apart underneath, run routes over the middle and most of their big-play ability stems from what they can do after the catch.

Very seldom, if ever, do they stretch things to the outside or take the top off a defense.

When you really think about it, the fact that quarterback Tom Brady used these guys to compile the seventh-highest scoring season in NFL history is mind-boggling.

Throughout the season, he was forced to act as the conductor of an offense that didn’t have a single game breaker. The burden of each yard was on his shoulders.

With no way to quickly absolve his sins, Brady was forced to go out each Sunday and be flawless. And since he was flawless, the missing dimension was effectively camouflaged as the Patriots constantly played from ahead.

When he finally made a few mistakes and fell into a hole against the Jets in the playoffs, the Patriots’ season ended and the rest of the offensive picture was exposed.

After falling behind early, Brady had to dink-and-dunk his way down the field and only took one shot downfield during the game. They lacked the versatility needed to get back into the game more quickly.

Meanwhile, counterpart Mark Sanchez repeatedly just threw the ball up and let talented receivers Santonio Holmes and Braylon Edwards go up and get it.

New England doesn’t want to get back to where everything they did was dictated by the presence of Moss or another receiver who has to have the ball thrown him a certain amount of times to be happy.

The merits of the multifaceted attack New England used so well are obvious and there’s no reason to move away from it. But the Patriots should look into adding that deep threat as a complementary piece.

There’s a lot of options for solving this problem with a rich free agent class.

San Diego’s Vincent Jackson could hit the market and either Holmes or Edwards could be on their way out of New York.

And while those players are fun to fantasize over, they probably wouldn’t fit in New England’s system.

The one player the Patriots could make a serious run at is Arizona’s Steve Breaston.

His versatility and workmanlike approach to the game would be appealing to Belichick, and he has also proven that he can thrive as a complementary receiver after playing behind Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin in Arizona.

Some health concerns exist due to a balky knee, but of all the free agents, he makes the most sense.

Other than that, there’s also Brandon Tate, who will likely get the first shot at proving himself at the position since the Patriots already have a two years invested in his development.